Polly Berry

Polly Berry (b. ? – d. c.1870-1880) was an African-American slave who, like Harriet Jacobs, successfully sued for her freedom and that of her daughter, Lucy Delaney. Her life is primarily known through her daughter's memoirs, "From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom".

Born free, Berry was kidnapped in her youth by slave-catchers and then sold to a General Berry in St. Louis, Missouri. She married another of the General's slaves and had two daughters, Nancy and Lucy. However, with the General's death in a duel, her husband was sold to a Southern plantation. Berry encouraged her daughters to escape, and Nancy fled successfully to Canada, settling in Toronto.

Berry herself escaped shortly after, making it as far as Chicago before returning for fear of retaliation against Lucy. Once returned, she filed suit for her freedom, successfully proving her free birth and kidnapping in court. Though she won her freedom, Berry remained in the St. Louis area to try to secure Lucy's freedom.

In 1842, Lucy's owner D. D. Mitchell threatened to sell her down the river; Lucy escaped to the house of a friend of Berry's. Berry filed suit for Lucy's freedom as well, enlisting future Attorney General Edward Bates to her cause. Berry and Bates were successful and Lucy was declared free at the age of 14.

Berry lived with or near Lucy long after the events of the trial. On one visit to Nancy in Toronto, Nancy offered to settle her there; however, Berry declined, not wishing to leave her St. Louis roots. She died without seeing her husband again, though Lucy and Nancy would locate him not long after Berry's death.